5 Best Customer Service Ideas

Even the five best customer service ideas may not need to be used every day. Baron says it's only three or so times a year that an employee stops billing a client for customer service reasons. The number of times he turns down a client for service-related reasons is about the same, he says.

And don't expect to see instant or constant customer service improvements when you do apply them. "Take the long view, have a game plan and make choices," says Berry. "This calls for prioritizing, sequencing and planning. Pick your spots so you get the most leverage and the most return for the investment you make."

High-impact moves you can make include Berry's recommendation of requiring each employee to submit an idea once a month for improving customer service. "Make it part of their job description and part of their job evaluation as well," he says.

Wiersema advises entrepreneurs to spend an hour each week listening in on customer service phone calls. "You're going to get an earful," he warns. "But you'll gain an appreciation for [recurring] problems."

Perhaps your first move, Berry says, should be to institute a formal measurement system to calculate the true costs of mediocre service. "If business owners take the time to properly measure the revenue lost to customers who left due to poor service and the extra costs involved in reperforming a service that wasn't performed properly the first time, the number they come up with will be so large, it will never again be an issue as to whether service quality is important in their company," promises Berry. "It's instant religion."

Whatever it takes to institute that religion, it's worth it. That's because these five customer service ideas are more than business tools. They're the stuff of corporate legends--yours. You know all the other stories of great customer service. Now go out and createyour own.

Contact Sources

Artist Frame Service, (773) 248-7713

Lenel Systems International, (716) 248-9720, http://www.lenel.com

Sonic Innovations, (801) 288-0993, http://www.sonici.com

This article was originally published in the March 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: 5 Best Customer Service Ideas.